[Benji]

I personally feel the look and feel of the website could use an overhaul. First impressions on a website are a fairly big deal, and when you enter sc2sea you get a very cluttered layout and a very unprofessional look. The first thing you see is not the News posts, but the Chatbox which is usually well moderated but has times when it is a trollfest, and I wonder if new visitors are maybe scared off by this.

Also on numerous occasions when posting on Teamliquid in threads like 'Why is there no SEA scene' (Not the exact name, just the generally vibe of the OP) they usually make comment that the website is too hard to navigate. Those of us who have been using the site for awhile are used to it but its fairly easy to understand people that simply cannot find certain sections.

As an example, here are 4 community website front pages, just to compare the difference:

Teamliquid: www.teamliquid.net
WellPlayed: www.wellplayed.org
Taiwan Community Website: http://sc2clan.tw
Cybergamer AU: www.cybergamer.com.au
SC2SEA: www.sc2sea.com

All of the other websites have a very clean look and feel, with clearly defined headings and prominent news posts, with some nice graphics. SC2SEA by comparison seems to be built with simply text headings, which do not stand out as well as proper graphics and make it hard to navigate. It also seems built with the idea of everything piled into the homepage, as if the design is assuming people will not click a 'Forum' or 'Chatbox' link if it were implemented.

So how to fix it?

A few changes I would make:

- Remove all the mini forums from the side bars and replace with headings with links to the forums eg: 'SC2 General', 'Tournaments' without showing the 5 recent threads of each forum. Instead have a box with something like 'Latest Posts' similar to the similar named section on the bottom of the webpage. Personally I use this for 90% of my forum browsing anyway.

- Change News, so instead of having the entire news post on the main page, simply have a graphic, a Title and a short Blurb such as 'Moonglade wins WCG Australia' 'Moonglade destroys all other competitors in the WCG Australia Finals, Click to read the full story' with a graphic (a photo or such) to catch a users attention.

- Move the chatbox. Its fun, but it shouldn't be the first thing you see when you enter the website simply because you cant control what is posted there. If a new user enters the website and see's 'PENIS' written 40 times, their first impression is that we are a bunch of immature brats. Perhaps put it underneath the news, or on a separate page.

- Update the look and feel, The anime look is very Asian and is cute, but it isn't the type of look and feel we are used to in ANZ and gives the website an unprofessional vibe. Darker colours, graphics on sidebars and proper graphical headings all improve the professional look of the website.


Anyway that’s my 2c, I understand how much work it would be to accomplish something like this, and I also recognize and respect the time you have spent on the website so far. But you asked for ideas for the website, so there's mine :P I want to come across as constructive, and don't mean to say the website is terrible or anything, just want to make that clear.

Quick Comments

	FaDeAudacity:
	nirvAnA:	thats an excellent write up :)
	Bendy:	very insightful

[Bugalugs McScruffin]

Originally Posted by xGKingBenji

I personally feel the look and feel of the website could use an overhaul. First impressions on a website are a fairly big deal, and when you enter sc2sea you get a very cluttered layout and a very unprofessional look. The first thing you see is not the News posts, but the Chatbox which is usually well moderated but has times when it is a trollfest, and I wonder if new visitors are maybe scared off by this.

Also on numerous occasions when posting on Teamliquid in threads like 'Why is there no SEA scene' (Not the exact name, just the generally vibe of the OP) they usually make comment that the website is too hard to navigate. Those of us who have been using the site for awhile are used to it but its fairly easy to understand people that simply cannot find certain sections.

As an example, here are 4 community website front pages, just to compare the difference:

Teamliquid: www.teamliquid.net
WellPlayed: www.wellplayed.org
Taiwan Community Website: http://sc2clan.tw
Cybergamer AU: www.cybergamer.com.au
SC2SEA: www.sc2sea.com

All of the other websites have a very clean look and feel, with clearly defined headings and prominent news posts, with some nice graphics. SC2SEA by comparison seems to be built with simply text headings, which do not stand out as well as proper graphics and make it hard to navigate. It also seems built with the idea of everything piled into the homepage, as if the design is assuming people will not click a 'Forum' or 'Chatbox' link if it were implemented.

So how to fix it?

A few changes I would make:

- Remove all the mini forums from the side bars and replace with headings with links to the forums eg: 'SC2 General', 'Tournaments' without showing the 5 recent threads of each forum. Instead have a box with something like 'Latest Posts' similar to the similar named section on the bottom of the webpage. Personally I use this for 90% of my forum browsing anyway.

- Change News, so instead of having the entire news post on the main page, simply have a graphic, a Title and a short Blurb such as 'Moonglade wins WCG Australia' 'Moonglade destroys all other competitors in the WCG Australia Finals, Click to read the full story' with a graphic (a photo or such) to catch a users attention.

- Move the chatbox. Its fun, but it shouldn't be the first thing you see when you enter the website simply because you cant control what is posted there. If a new user enters the website and see's 'PENIS' written 40 times, their first impression is that we are a bunch of immature brats. Perhaps put it underneath the news, or on a separate page.

- Update the look and feel, The anime look is very Asian and is cute, but it isn't the type of look and feel we are used to in ANZ and gives the website an unprofessional vibe. Darker colours, graphics on sidebars and proper graphical headings all improve the professional look of the website.


Anyway that’s my 2c, I understand how much work it would be to accomplish something like this, and I also recognize and respect the time you have spent on the website so far. But you asked for ideas for the website, so there's mine :P I want to come across as constructive, and don't mean to say the website is terrible or anything, just want to make that clear.

I agree and disagree with this. Haha, that's always gonna be the case, isn't it?

The site is very intimidating when you first rock up to it. Personally, now that I know my way around, I love how the site is laid out because I can get to everything from the front page, and I love rocking the chatbox, as you may or may not have noticed.

A couple of options are...
Clean up the front page as Benji suggested. This probably needs to happen regardless, so the first impression isn't a crazy mess. Moving the chatbox to a less prominent place would make me sad, but as Benji said, if someone rocked up to the site yesterday morning while the guy pretending to be minimat was posting all his stuff, they would probably have left pretty quickly. News front and centre is pretty important as well, though it does meant that news posts would probably have to be a minimum quality as well.

Best case scenario, as far as I'm concerned, would be two layouts. A basic cleaned up one like above and then the crazy, everything on one page for people like me who love to have everything right there and don't care.

Also, BETA KEY!!!